Outside of religion, outside of Christianity, the world is being run by exhausted people. I’m just telling you, the important people in the world are pushing it hard. The business people that don’t work from 9:00 to 5:00, they work from 5:00 to 9:00. Those are the people who get ahead in business. You’re following me. We are not going to get the Lord’s work done if we’ve got a flood of boundaries. How did Jesus do with boundaries? How did the apostle Paul do with boundaries? They stretch themselves. Are you with me? And why do they stress themselves? Because they’re self-motivated. We are tired and stressed because we’re highly self-motivated. I want to do the work of Christ. I want to persuade you of a perspective that you might be familiar with and you might not be familiar with. This might be new to you, but I want to share with you identities that are given to us in Jesus Christ through the Bible. So we’re going to be looking at a fair amount of Bible scriptures, and I think you will really be encouraged. And if you’re open to it, maybe a little bit challenged. I hope you’re open to being challenged and called higher by the Bible.
So let’s go ahead and jump right in. This is 1 Peter 2. This is the apostle Peter, and he is talking about you. He says, But you are chosen people a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession. That you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you would not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. So I hope you see some interesting things there. So I highlighted this phrase right here, a royal priesthood. And I added these brackets, and these brackets right here is where Peter, who’s writing part of the New Testament here, is actually quoting the Old Testament. And in the Old Testament, God asked the ancient Israelis to be priests to represent him to all the nations. So this is interesting. The ancient Israelis had priests, but they were also priests. So they had a high priest, they had a Levitical priest. But God expected every single Hebrew, every single Jewish member of the Israeli nation to represent God, the Father, Jehovah God, Yahweh, to the surrounding nations.
And now, this is out of Exodus 19. Now, Peter is saying that door, that responsibility is now open to the church. And so now it’s not just Jewish people, but it’s Jewish people who’ve chosen Jesus to be Lord, and then it was not Jewish. Gentile people also who’ve chosen Jesus to be Lord, to be a priesthood, a chosen people a royal nation. So did you know you are a priest? Or let’s do the gender thing. Or a priestess. All right, so you’re a priest or a priestess. So I looked this up in Miriam Webster’s Dictionary. And so a priest is someone who is authorized to perform sacred rights of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God. And so we believe this doctrine. We believe this idea of the priesthood of every believer. So here’s a perspective that I want to persuade you of. You are a priest. You are a priest. You are a mediator, a go-between between Yahweh, our God, Jesus Christ, who he has made king over all of us, Lord Jesus Christ, and to the nations of the world. We are priests and priestesses. So some of you who are fashion forward may be thinking, So what’s the look here?
So now that I know that I’m a priest, what are we working with here? So I I have some choices for you, all right? You could do the Eastern Europe thing, the Orthodox look, the cross, big heavy cross by your belly button. You could do the ecumenical, the Buddhist all-world priest thing. Now, we could go traditional. You could do the black robe with the white backwards collar. Here in Great Britain, they call the priests in the Church of England, they call those dog collars. It’s a nickname. You You could do the dog collar, you could do the angel, you could do the gender-specific nun view. Now look at this guy. He looks like he’s ready to give communion at a moment’s notice wherever he is. The problem is, of course, we are all priests. So that means all 500 of us, if we’re going to dress up like priests, should show up like this. So obviously, Jesus Christ, the scriptures are talking about viewing your priesthood a little bit more. Every man, all world, every Christian is a priest. And we actually don’t recognize the idea of Christians dressing different than other Christians. And I’m going to read to you what we consider an important passage of scripture.
It’s going to take three slides to show you this. It’s really going to unpack a little bit more of what it means to be a priest in the name of God. Now, this is Jesus talking about church leadership. He’s going to say some bad things about religious leadership and some good things about it. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, The teachers of the law and the the Parasees, sit in Moses’ seat, so you must be careful to do everything they tell you, but do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. Could a religious leader be a hypocrite? Oh, yeah. They tie up heavy cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. So Jesus is criticizing church leaders, temple leaders, religious leaders who give you the Commandments of God but aren’t willing to help you at all in following the ways of God. Everything they do is done for people to see. They make their phylacteries wide, that’s part of their garment, and the tassels on their garments long. They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogs.
They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one father and he is in heaven, nor are you to be called instruction for you have one instructor, the Messiah, the greatest among you will be your servant, for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exaltet. So let’s draw some conclusions from this passage of scriptures. So all Christians are equally given the responsibility of this priesthood, not just the church leaders. No one is ordained over some other Christian in the view of Jesus. So in the Broward Church and in our family of churches, we do not practice ordaining people to the ministry. Now, if you want to officiate a wedding in the state of Florida, you actually are required to be ordained. So I’m ordained, all of the elders, most of the ministry staff, Jim Baron, who’s not on the church staff. He’s our congregational hippie, but he loves God. He’s Every church needs a godly hippie, I’m just telling you.
But Jim Baron got ordained in the eyes of the state of the Florida, even though he’s not a minister on the church staff in order to officiate a wedding, and that’s fine with us. So I am ordained and I’m not ordained. And what I mean by that is I’ve got a slip of paper issued by the Broward Church ordaining me so I can do weddings. But we don’t recognize that in any religiously significant way. If you’re following me, I’m not more holy than you. We don’t do the practice of lifting someone up as somehow more sacred than everybody else. So we’re going to dress them in a robe and we’re going to give them a title. So I got the titles. So I’m an elder in the church, and I’m a minister in the church, and I’m a teacher in the church. So you could call me accurately. You could literally call me Bishop Joe, and that would actually be accurate. I’m not kidding. You You could call me Pastor Joe. You could call me Teacher Joe. I reject all of those titles. So they’re accurate, but I don’t want to be called Father Joe.
I’m just Joe, all right? I want you to understand, so I want you to understand. So the challenge for you is that the work of the ministry is not delegated to the church leadership. We all share it. Are you with me? So you might be thinking, Wait, I just wanted to be a saved Christian. I didn’t know that I was going to be a priest. I didn’t know that’s exactly what’s going on here. So I would like to read a little bit more from Jesus to unpack this even a little bit more with some other ways to term this role that we all share. This is in the sermon on the mount. He’s speaking to us again. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. Now, what’s crazy about him saying this is that in the Book of John, Jesus calls himself. He says, I am the light of the world. But when Jesus died, was resurrected and ascended into heaven, he still functions as the light of the world, but now he’s delegated that also to us.
We are also Christ to the world. Do you see how we function like priests? When people look at us, we should represent Jesus Christ to them. We are the light of the world. It says, A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand. It’s talking about us. And gives light to everyone in the room. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Now, many of you know I like to use graphic images. I’m a visual learner, and I’m not a graphic designer, so bear with me on my images today. Excuse me. So this is how it is. God has blessed you and me if you are a born-again Christian. If you’re a Christian, God has blessed you and me with the forgiveness of sins, with the hope of heaven instead of a path towards destruction, the hope of eternal life. We have that. But what God is calling us to do is to take our blessings and bless the world. Do you see that?
You are blessed to be a blessing. You are blessed to be a blessing. We are not supposed to be the dead end. Do you see that? It’s not wrong to be a taker, but it’s wrong to be a taker and not a giver. And so we are called to be givers. And you know, Jesus is aware that some people only want to be saved. They only want him to be their savior. They don’t want to be him yet. They don’t want him to be their Lord. And so he asks us to pray for some Christians to have a change of heart. And he talks about it in in Matthew 9. When he saw the crowds, this is Jesus, he had compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. The prayer he’s asking for here is for you and me to pray for you and me. It’s to pray God, help more and more Christians to realize there’s supposed to be a blessing to the world.
There’s supposed to be workers in the harvest field. Now, some of you might think, now, wait a second. A person is not saved by their works. Amen. I fully agree with that. A person is not saved by their works, but you’re supposed to be working anyway. And the reason What you’re supposed to be working is not to earn your salvation. You’re supposed to be working because people need you. People need what you have. You and I, to give a metaphor, you and I are like somebody who’s carrying around the knowledge of a cure for some dreaded disease. Let’s say you have the knowledge of the cure of cancer, or the knowledge of the cure of whatever uncurable disease is out there. Wouldn’t you want to tell people? And that’s what’s happening. People need Jesus more than they need a cure for some disease. To just say it plainly, whether you’re cured from a disease or not, all of us someday are going to pass away. And the greater need that we have is Jesus Christ for the hope of eternal life. Do you see that? And you and I are his priests. You and I are his salt of the Earth.
We are the light of the world. Here’s a perspective that Jesus gives on this. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even the pagans do that. And so what Jesus is saying here is we are called to show more love than those who are not Christians. You are called to put your love into actions. So here’s a challenging question for me and you. What more are you doing than the tax collectors? What more are you doing than the pagans, to use Jesus’s language. Here goes an amateur graph, all right? Everybody’s got to do these two phases in their life, whether you’re a Christian or whether you’re not a Christian, everybody has to take care of their personal responsibilities and pursue their passions. Everybody has people that are significant to them. Maybe it’s your parents, maybe you’re married, or maybe you have children, or whatever it is. Everyone’s doing this. The Hindus, the atheists, the Christians, everybody’s doing this. This area over here is what Jesus is calling us to.
He’s asking us to be salt and light. He’s asking you to help save souls. That’s what he meant by workers in the harvest field. This is your role right here. He’s asking us in the scriptures to build Christian friendships. One of the things that I’m proud and happy to say that characterizes the Broward Church is that we don’t just see each other on Sundays, but we try to build friendships with each other during the week. That’s because you guys are functioning as good priests and priestesses, all right? We need to be the people. If anybody should show to compassion to those in need, it should be the Christians. Amen? And we are called to help build the church. We are doing more than the world. And so there’s a hard truth that we need to face. And the hard truth is this. The world will be impacted by Christians who are tired and stressed. The world is going to be impacted. You know, the world right now, politically, geographically, outside of religion, outside of Christianity, the world is being run by exhausted people. I’m just telling you, the important people in the world are pushing it hard.
The business people that don’t work from 9:00 to 5:00, they work from 5:00 to nine? Those are the people who get ahead in business. You’re following me. We are not going to get the Lord’s work done if we’ve got a flood of boundaries. Now, you ought to have some boundaries. That’s normal. That’s acceptable. That’s Godly. How did Jesus do with boundaries? How did the apostle Paul do with boundaries? They stretched themselves. Are you with me? And why did they stretch themselves? Because they’re self-motivated. We are tired and stressed because we’re highly self-motivated. I want to do the work of Christ. I hope that you, I know many of you, want to do the work of Christ. What we do is important. What we do makes a difference. I don’t want to sit on the couch all day. I don’t want to go to church, go home, sit on the couch and watch Netflix. Pam and I do that at 9:30 PM. That’s when we watch Netflix. Nothing wrong. I shouldn’t make any commentary on Netflix. But I’m just saying, I hope you are willing to live like Jesus did, like Paul did, like Peter did, a sacrificial life.
Everybody needs time off. There’s a military term, R&R. It means rest and relaxation. Everybody needs that. God invented the idea of the Sabbath. God knows you need some rest. Having said that, In the words of Augustine from 400 AD, Everyone has a hole in their soul that only Jesus can fill. And we are the priests to bring Jesus to meet that need. The work we do, I already said this, but the work we do is valuable and important. Let me back up a step here. I want to give you three examples that I hope will be inspirational to you as you and I consider this perspective of being the salt and light of being priests. The first example I want to give you is from my own conversion. So I was baptized when I was 18 years old. A guy named Peter Brown, who lived in the same dormitories that I did at the University of Florida, my freshman year, invited me out to a Bible discussion group. Any gators here? It’s the Murphy area Sled Hall. That’s where I was. There you go. All right. He invited me out, and I’m a Christian because he invited me out.
And there’s two guys who co-led that small group Bible discussion on the campus, a guy named Sheridan Wright and another guy named Keith West. They opened up the Bible to me. They They taught the Bible to me. It took me four months from the time I first visited that small group until the time I was baptized, and I was on a journey, and I was wrestling with whether I wanted to give my life to Christ and become his disciple. And when I would go home from the University of Florida on break to St. Petersburg, Florida, there was a fourth guy named Richard Runge, who was a member of the Gainesville Church, who would go home with me to Gainesville. I owe my to those four men. Now, they didn’t save me. Jesus saved me. But they were his instruments. They functioned as priests in my life, even though I would not have framed it or thought of it that way. But I owe my soul to the work that those men did. I would like to give you a second example of how you and I can function a priest with a woman that I’ll call Mary.
That’s not her real name. There was a woman named Mary who was a member of this church for years, and she decided decided to turn her back on her faith, and she went out into the world. She stopped attending, and she stopped living the lifestyle of a Christian. After many years, she had a change of heart, and she decided she would come back to Christ. And it’s what we call a restoration. We don’t baptize people who are coming like that who have already been baptized, but we study the Bible with them to see if they’re willing to commit again to making Jesus as Lord. Two women in the church, functioned as priestesses, as the light of the world for Mary. And they studied the Bible with her. And in talking with her, they found out there was something that she needed to repent of before she was fully restored to following Christ. And that was she would not forgive her mother. She and her mother were estranged because they had hurt each other over the years to the point where they had a non-functioning relationship. And these two sisters in Christ read this scripture to Mary.
It says, If you forgive other people when they sin against you, this is Jesus speaking, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others of their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. And they said, Mary, you’re not going to heaven. This is a matter of salvation until you forgive your mama. And it took her two weeks of wrestling, and she She forgave her mother. And she and her mother were fully reconciled, which changed her life, changed her mother’s life, and changed her entire family’s life, like now they could have Thanksgiving together without people being all upset. This is how we function in the lives of people. I want to give you one more example. I think it’s a fun one. I want to talk to you about Alex Nouria Reeves. Yes. So So apparently they were on vacation. Alex is not running for President. Neither is Nouria. That’s not what this is about. But they serve as the Hope Worldwide congregational Chapter Leaders here at the Broward Church. The Hope Worldwide is a charitable organization that’s an arm of our family of churches, and they have it on their heart.
I had a chance to have coffee with them a week ago. They have a passion for meeting the needs of those who are in need. And And so they have led the way and organized and participated in outreach to the community in many different ways. One of their functions, and they have done this for 10 years, is to organize, start, and lead Hope Scouts. Now, Hope Scout is for middle schoolers and high schoolers to have a spiritual growing element in their Christian faith as they serve the needy in the community. And I just want to hold them up as priests and priestesses. Listen to God’s plan. God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. When people want a hope for something that’s not a fake hope, something that’s not a faulty hope, they look to Jesus And his plan is they would actually look to you and to me, because it’s Christ living in you. It’s the hope for people, the hope for the world. Do you see this? And you know, and I know, That when you identify yourself as the local Christian on your job place, or in your school, or in your neighborhood, people watch you.
Of course, what do they want to know? Are you a flaming hypocrite? Or are you the real thing? But it’s not just that people are watching you. It’s that you are really the mediatory agent. You are really the priest that the world needs. It’s more than example. It’s words and actions that we need to be involved in. And so what that means is that in a way, every Christian is a leader. Now, that doesn’t mean you have to lead a small group. That doesn’t mean you have to stand up on stage. I know some of you love public speaking, and some of you are scared to death of public speaking. It doesn’t mean you have to do that. I love it 75 %. I’m scared 25 %. So that’s literally… I just got to tell you, I had a stroke, and it’s hard for me to walk, but I can walk on my own. But when I’m up on a stage, I have subconscious stage fright, and that’s why the guys have to help me off the stage. So I’m 25 % afraid of public speaking. So I just thought I’d share that with you.
But listen, we’re the ones bringing people to Christ. We lead lead in that way, even if it’s just leading maybe the child that you gave birth to and you’re raising, or your next door neighbor, or an old friend from school, or whoever it is, you can provide leadership, and you are called to that, to provide leadership in a way that works with your skillset, in a way that works with your personality. But whether you know this or not, you are called in some way, shape, or form to be a leader as the light of the world and as the salt of the earth. So as we near the end of this message, I want to talk about a little bit about your training as a priest. Shouldn’t you be trained like you’re a priest, right? I got baptized, and nobody put a robe on me or sent me away to seminary. The Bible talks a little bit about this idea of being trained. And here’s my homemade drawing again. So a major part of your training is your own self-motivation. So you have to go and get your own training. I’m not being lazy. I’m not cheating on this as a church staff member.
The Bible says this directly, and I’m going to show you this on the next slide. But you need your own motivation. You need to say to yourself, I need to grow as a Christian in my Bible knowledge, in my example, in my relationship with God, in my relationship with others. Every Christian should have as a goal to grow as a Christian, to continually become, this is the fancy word, is called sanctification. You’re becoming more and more like Jesus Christ. This is a major biblical thread in the New Testament as a theme. But then you should also take advantage of what the scriptures have called for in training, and that is the teachers you have in the church, mentors you know individually, lessons you can get. I know this sounds a little lame, but you would be amazed how good some of the stuff is in Google and on YouTube, on Bible stuff. I would take advantage of resources in Brouwer Church and anywhere that you can find them that are credible. There’s great books out there, and there’s terrible books out there. And so you have to sift through and find the wheat and blow away the chaff if you follow the illustration, and find what’s good, and seek for your own growth.
This is how the scriptures put it. It says, Have nothing to do with godlessness and old wives tales, but rather train yourself to be godly. Godly. So here you are sifting out the good stuff from the bad stuff. Have nothing to do with the bad stuff, but train yourself. For physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for the present life and the life to come. Are you going to the Priestley gym? Now, the Priestley gym is not a location. Now, there’s a lot of training that goes on in this church building, but it’s a journey. The Priestley gym is a journey where you’re seeking ways between you and God, and in mentors, and the scriptures themselves, to train yourself to be Godly. Listen to one other scripture on this, on your own training It says, But in your heart, revere Christ as Lord. This is a really challenging scripture to me. It says, Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. Are you ready when somebody asks you why you’re a Christian or why they should become a Christian?
Are you ready for it? I would say that almost nobody is 100 % ready. So keep going on that journey. Make yourself better and better and better prepared. Try to be 70 % prepared or 80 % prepared. Don’t give up and say, Man, this Bible is a really big book. I’ll never learn this thing. Don’t do that. Keep going. Strive for growth. And I want to show you a passage of scripture about my job, about church staff, church elderships, what we’re supposed to offer for you. It says, For Christ himself gave the Apostles, the prophets, the evangelists. By the way, that’s the job that Tony has. If you want to call him Tony, if you want to call him Pastor Tony, I guess that’s okay. We’ve already talked about titles, but actually, technically, his job is evangelist, just to let you know, that’s the office he holds. The evangelist, the pastor’s, which is another word for elder, and teachers, listen to why we even have our jobs on the church staff, is to equip God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. And so my job, Tony’s job, the other ministry staff, is to do our best to come up with good lessons, good individual talks, good conversations to help equip you as best as we’re able, because we don’t know everything either, but we’re going to do our best to equip you.
And so I’m going to try to sell you on midweeks. You don’t have to come if you’re too busy, but I’m just telling you, the teachers who prepare lessons for the Thursday midweeks, and for example, the Friday night singles ministry, the undivided ministry. We’re really trying hard to prepare quality stuff for you so that you could be trained to be better and better in your work. So So we are called to be a blessing. Are you striving to prepare and grow? I’ve talked about that. We should be a blessing in this dark world. I just want to talk about something, and it’s this. Every change in life is a test of your faith. If you’re in school and you get out of school and you go get a job, are you going to do as well as a Christian? Some people do, and some people don’t. Some people are all They’re fired up about being a Christian when they’re in school, but they go get a job, and then the job fills their world. And what they care about now is the advancement of their career. And look, a good Christian should do great on their job place.
But the question is, are you still a priest? Are you still practicing being the salt of the earth in the light of the world? Some of you, when you got married, it was a test of faith. And now, instead of being concerned about the Lord’s work, all you care about is your marriage. And you should care about your marriage, but is it pushing out, seeking the Kingdom of God first? Some of you go on and you have children if you’re married, and then the children fill all your priorities. Now look, I became a Christian when I was a student, and I went through the transition of being a single and then getting married. And then Pam and I have raised three children. My youngest is 30. I don’t know how that happened, but sometime the time went by, and now my youngest is 30 years old. But I get it. It felt like every transition for me was a test of faith, where I had to decide all over again, am I going to seek the Kingdom of God first? Am I going to continue to be light and salt? And look, when you’re married with kids, it looks totally different seeking the Kingdom first and being salt and light, than when you’re a young, free campus student.
I forget how hard it was to be a campus student. You can tell that. But I realize it may look different, and your lifestyle may be different. But we are still the answer that the world needs. We are the Christians. If anybody should fight for what is right, it’s us. If anybody should be seeking justice and caring about justice, it’s the Christians. People who are not Christians are doing this. But if anybody should be leading the way, it is us. We’re the ones who should be extending mercy. We’re the ones who are supposed to be showing compassion. Passion, actively reaching out to those in need. We were supposed to be a comfort to the lonely and grieving and a community of love. Let us be priests to the world. Let us be salt and light and take up that shoulder, that responsibility of being workers in the harvest field. As we go to the Lord’s Supper, I want to read one more scripture without commentary. I’m just going to read this scripture about how Jesus went ahead of us by being the perfect priest priest, mediating for God and saving our souls. Perhaps this will be a good reflection for you as you take the Lord’s Supper.
Let’s read this, and then I’ll pray. Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Let’s pray together. Father, as we take the bread and the juice that represents the sacrifice body and blood of your son, we want to thank you so much for giving your son for us. Thank you, Father, that you sent us a mediator, a high priest, even our sacrifice as well, who could save our soul. Help us to be grateful and responsive in a way that is pleasing to you. We pray in your son’s name. Amen.